Reawakening
by AlerisAngel
Summary: Link is thrown into a world he barely recognizes, with a burden that he doesn't feel is his to bear and a mysterious Sheikah guide as his only company. But how can he fulfill his destiny and defeat Ganondorf if he can't figure out how to get control of his head, or his feelings for the person next to him? LinkxM!Sheik. I own none of this, and all rights go to their original owners.
1. Chapter 1

**-Awakening-**

 _It wasn't meant to be like this._

 _But a child, torn from his life to save a world he barely knew._

 _Not yet an adult, taken away by those with machinations of evil._

 _Not yet a hero, chosen before his time by those above._

 _Never a villain, yet treated as such by those in rule._

… _I'm sorry…_

It had happened so suddenly. While it certainly wasn't unplanned (in fact, he would say it was premeditated), he still felt quite the shock upon waking up like this. He blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to the light again and found himself sitting against a tree. He appeared to be in a clearing, possibly no more than 50 lengths apart from the furthest tree to the one he was sitting on, with a crystal-clear pond in the middle. Gingerly testing his arms and legs, the boy hauled himself up and stalked towards the pond, intent on checking his appearance in the reflection.

Mercifully, the pond was shallow and as long as he stayed conscious he was in no danger. As he approached, he steeled himself for what he might find looking back at him. He barely knew how long he had been asleep for, only that it was quite some time, and his appearance surely would have changed slightly, right?

He stared into the pond, and what he saw came as a surprise - or did it, really?

White cloth wrapped around the top of his head. Dull red eyes, dusky rubies framed in a desert of blonde hair and tan skin. A nose that bent ever-so slightly, a reminder of a fight long ago, and a white cloth that obscured any other details.

Sheikah.

He recoiled. It had really worked, then. He wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or not.

Quickly, he checked the cloth around his forearms for his daggers. Finding them buried there, he relaxed slightly before quickly unsheathing them to test how fast he could arm himself. After practicing until he was satisfied, he hid them away again and began to pace the clearing, thinking about his purpose.

" _A hero has just been put to sleep. Your job is to watch him until he awakens, and then guide and protect him once he does. The king of evil's power grows stronger by the hour, and we must wait for the hero to be ready before we can fight."_

This had been simple enough. This hero was a child, no older than twelve years of age, and he would certainly need a bodyguard who was more than capable of handling fighting. However, he inwardly questioned the sanity of sending a mere child to fight the king of evil, chosen one or not. A few months of rest wouldn't make a difference either way.

But in the end, his destiny had been made for him, and he was bound to it unto death or release of contract. Such is the way of the Sheikah.

He moved towards the centre of the clearing, pulled a Deku nut out of his equipment, and threw it downwards.

 _Link…_

 _Link…_

 _Wake up, Link…_

The boy named Link opened his eyes, then instantly closed them again, unaccustomed to light. He put a hand over his eyes, and used his other arm to push himself into a sitting position, opening his eyes towards the floor.

And he screamed.

The floor was made of something like water, but not wet. And there were two people staring back at him in the reflection. One was an old man in brown robes. The other looked like him, but different. For one, he was wearing brown leather gloves, white tights, and a belt in addition to his Kokiri tunic and hat, which he did not remember falling asleep in. For two, he looked _way_ older. He would've thought he was staring at his older brother if it wasn't for the fact that this was a reflection. He wasn't broad-shouldered by any stretch now, but he appeared to be solidly built, and his face looked somewhat similar to his own, with no facial hair, but with more adult proportions. Shockingly, his hair was only slightly longer than it had been when he last checked it. And… was that an _earring?_

"You've been given quite a fate, haven't you?" Spoke someone. Link jumped. He'd forgotten the old man was there.

"What?" He asked. His voice was far deeper than he remembered it being, too. "Who are you? Where am I?"

He looked up at the man, who looked up at him as well.

"I am Rauru, one of the Seven Sages." The man responded. He spoke slowly, with a gravelly voice that felt like time itself seeping into his ears. "You are Link, the hero chosen by the Goddesses. This is the Sacred Realm, resting place of the Triforce… initially."

Link stared at him blankly. He faintly recalled something about a hero chosen by the Goddesses, and even more faintly remembered that it was him. On the edge of his mind sat his memories, shrouded in a dense fog. Rauru noticed and stopped.

"Ah, yes. This can happen when one goes to sleep for seven years. Allow me." Rauru opened his arms, and a warm feeling came over him as the fog cleared. Instantly, he remembered everything. He remembered being teased for being the only Kokiri without a fairy, until the Great Deku Tree had given him one in his dying days. He remembered venturing in to save the tree, only to fail and learn the truth of who he was. He remembered being sent out into a world he didn't know, alone and afraid with only a small fairy for company. He had fought monsters, ventured through caves, temples, and fish, made and lost friends, and done what was told of him. He had pulled the sword and…

Link gasped as the realization hit him.

"Yes, you remember it now? You were to be the one to defeat the King of darkness, Ganondorf. However, you were a mere child. You were hidden away in the sacred realm until you came of age, and Ganondorf took over the kingdom." Rauru continued. "But that time has come, hero. You are of age now, and you shall save hyrule."

Link put his head in his hands as Rauru spoke, letting the words sink in. Not only was his job not even done, but he had failed the job he was given. Ganondorf had taken over, and from the sound of it he had to go fix it. On top of _that_ , he had his entire childhood taken away from him as his reward for doing the job the Great Deku Tree had given him in the first place.

Link looked up at Rauru, angry now. The sage stopped his lecture.

"No." He said.

"No?" Rauru looked at him, seemingly surprised. "Hero, you have been chosen by the Goddesses for this duty. You cannot refuse."

"Well, it's not my fault that Ganondorf took over!" Link shouted, petulantly. He felt like a child, but he didn't care. He still might as well have been one, anyways. "I didn't even know who he was until a month ago! Well, seven years and a month, I guess…"

Rauru's eyes narrowed. "Hero, are you aware of why nobody has stopped Ganondorf as of yet?"

Link paused. For all the fear he had put into Link in their first meeting, he was just a man. "Why?"

"You were not yet ready when you pulled the Master Sword and opened the sacred realm. However, when you opened it, Ganondorf entered and took a piece of the triforce as his own. His piece is the triforce of power, and he cannot be challenged by mere men anymore. You, as the one chosen by the Goddesses, are the only one in the realm with enough power to defeat him now."

Link just stared at him for several seconds, letting this information sink in. "So what you're saying is, I'm the only person qualified to do this."

"In essence, yes." Rauru stated. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I am sorry, Hero. But this is the only way.

When Ganondorf entered the sacred realm, he inadvertently awoke the powers within six sages scattered across the land. Gather us all, and we can seal Ganondorf in the sacred realm with the triforce should he be weakened enough."

Link nodded. He was too upset to do anything else.

"My time runs short, Hero. But you will not be alone. I shall return you to the realm from which you came. Farewell…" Rauru spread his arms once again, and a light washed around Link.

When he came to, Link was lying on the pedestal he had pulled the Master Sword from, what felt like only yesterday. Had seven years really passed? He lifted up his hand and saw the leather glove still on it, confirming his suspicion, and cursed. Loudly.

"Ah, you're awake." A voice said. Link quickly stood up and reached for the sword on his back. He looked and saw a figure in the doorway. It made no move to approach him or run away, instead it cradled a stringed instrument in its hands. From a distance, Link couldn't tell who or what it was, but it looked like a human. Still, he kept his blade up.

"At ease, Hero." The figure said, stepping into the light. "I am Sheik of the Sheikah, and I have been sent to assist you."

 **Notes:**

Hello, new story! I wanted to start something new in hoping doing something else writing related would fix the massive writers' block I had for Locked Away, and this was basically done and more or less just waiting for Locked Away to be done before I went ahead and started it. I'll try to balance both of them out as best I can.

I figured that I should probably actually delve into my favourite genre (Romance) at some point, so that's what I did. This is one of my favourite ships and possibly my favourite Link ship in general (this, BotW!Link x Zelda, SS!Link x Zelda, and Link x Marin are probably my favourites), and one I already was passively storyboarding, so this got the green light over some of my other ones. I'm pretty sure the plot's going to feel fairly samey at times, since "Sheik adventures with Link in OoT" isn't exactly a new thing in fanfics, but hopefully there'll be enough difference here to draw people in. It's probably not apparent in this chapter, but I do have plans that hopefully set this apart. If not, hopefully I write the characters and romance well so there's something here.

Lastly, Sheik is referred to in-canon as male. I do not have an issue with female Sheik, if that's your preference, but I have always thought of Sheik as male, even growing up with SSBB, and that is how he will be presented in this story.

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**-Beginning-**

"Sheik of the Sheikah?" Link repeated, testing the words. He kept the tip of his blade pointed directly at the other figure, while his eyes began to drift to size them up in case he had to fight his way out of this.

The Sheikah was not what he was expecting, looking at them. They looked a lot different from Impa, but Link didn't know how Sheikah usually dressed or looked, so maybe this was normal, too. They had bright red eyes with tan skin and blonde hair with a face covered in bandages from the nose down. Link noticed their hair looked like his, but with a braid coming over their shoulder halfway down their body that ended with a metal tip braided in. Link's gaze travelled downwards, taking in the Sheikah's muscular, yet slim body covered in a blue close-fitting garment. There were ribbons of the same white cloth that was around their face and hair on their arms, which were cradling a wooden stringed instrument that Link didn't know the name of. On their chest was a tattered, worn white tabard with the Eye of the Sheikah on it in a blood red.

"You're staring, Hero." Sheik spoke, walking towards him and lowering their voice. Link noticed a hint of an accent whenever they spoke. "It may do you good to know that I am a man."

Link held his gaze on Sheik's chest for several more seconds, defiantly, before returning to look Sheik in the eye and lowering his sword. He noticed that he had to look down somewhat, now that Sheik was up close, and for a moment wondered how that could be before he remembered how old he was now. Neither of them spoke, Sheik seemed to be waiting to see if he had anything to say and Link was waiting for a familiar voice to chime in. After almost a minute, Link spoke up.

"Sheik," he asked tentatively. "Where's Navi?"

While the smaller figure's face was mostly obscured, Link could see a flicker in his eyes. Abruptly, Sheik sat down with a sigh. "Come, Hero. You have missed quite a lot."

Slowly, as though he wasn't sure if he should trust him or not, Link sat down behind the dias with Sheik and stared expectantly. Sheik took in a breath and began, closing his eyes.

"That day, seven years ago… there was a catastrophe. Someone had opened the sacred realm, and Ganondorf had entered it and obtained the Triforce of Power. Before anyone knew what was happening, he had killed the king and his honour guard and assumed the throne, driving the citizens out of Castle Town and killing all those who stayed behind. Only the Crown Princess, Lady Zelda, escaped."

Link looked at Sheik, his eyes closed tight in trying to remember the details. "I know that part. What happened to Zelda?"

"Lady Zelda has not been seen since. But as the Great Sage Rauru has informed me that the Triforce of Wisdom has not returned to the Sacred Realm, we know she has not been killed." Sheik said, without opening his eyes. This was a small relief to Link. That was two people he knew were on his side.

"After Ganondorf took power, most of the human population that wasn't killed fled to the neighbouring countries, but they would not dare attack someone possessing a piece of the Triforce without any of their own. The other races, save the Gerudo, were not so lucky. Ganondorf froze Lake Hylia and the Zora's domain, trapping the Zora under dark ice and preventing any travel out of the country by boat. He unleashed monsters on the Goron, forcing them to fight beasts that would eat them as a meal. And he sent blight to the Kokiri Forest. The Great Deku Sprout, the child of the late Great Deku Tree, is gravely ill and all Fairies native to the Kokiri forest have been called back to tend to it. I presume that's where your fairy friend went."

 **** **Link groaned. Of** ** _course_** **Ganondorf wouldn't be happy just with taking the throne. He had to make everyone else's life even harder. Especially his. But something was bugging him about Ganondorf's plan for hyrule…**

"Wait, Sheik. Why would Ganondorf try to take the throne, then start killing everyone?"

Sheik blinked. "His goal is to unite the Triforce, seemingly. He has hordes of monsters around this temple, and has focussed all of his energy elsewhere onto tracking down Lady Zelda. You hold the Triforce of Courage, and Lady Zelda holds the Triforce of Wisdom. If he were to unite the triforce, he would get any one wish granted. Given what he's done already, I would advise not letting him make that wish."

"No, it doesn't look like a good idea. Hey, if there's monsters outside the temple, how did you get in?" Link asked.

"There's a broken window above us." Sheik responded simply. "Is there anything else you wish to ask before we set out, Hero? It is not safe here. Now that you are awake and in this realm again, the magic the Great Sage Rauru has used is fading."

"I have some, yeah," Link started. He sorted through his brain and picked a question that wasn't the most pressing, but was the one he wanted to know the most. "Who gave me these clothes? I wasn't wearing them when I - seven years ago."

The Sheikah sighed again, more deeply this time. "It was I who made those clothes, Hero."

"What?" Link half-shouted. "I was asleep!"

"Careful, you will alert the monsters to our presence." Sheik scolded. "And would you have rather woken up naked?"

"That doesn't mean I wanted to be stripped!" Link replied incredulously. He could feel his face burning and quickly jerked his head away, breaking eye contact.

"I left your underclothes on." Sheik replied, undeterred by Link's outburst. "Either the Great Sage Rauru or myself had to do it. I am much closer to your age. Be grateful."

Link growled in frustration. Being a hero was definitely not worth it. Perhaps sensing the silence, Sheik stood up and motioned for him to do the same. "Do you have the Ocarina of Time still, Hero?"

Link pulled himself to his feet, rummaging in his bag for the blue instrument that he had inherited from his fate. It was a beautiful instrument, really, and he couldn't resent having it. He located it and pulled it out of his bag, still not meeting Sheik in the eyes.

"Very well. I will play you a song. Join in once you understand the notes." Just like that, Sheik started to pluck a tune on his own instrument. Link stood, mesmerised, as the song took off from shaky to confident, musical to magical. Sheik repeated the song three or four times before he looked at Link expectantly. Getting the message, Link joined in, following Sheik as best he could. After a few rotations, he started to figure it out as well, and beautiful music filled the chamber.

After a while, Sheik gracefully drew the song to a close, and Link abruptly stopped after him. "That, Hero, was the Prelude of Light. You may use it at any point outside this temple to return to this chamber."

Link just nodded, trying to keep hold of the song in his head for as long as he could. Everything that came after this could be awful, but at least he had one good moment so far.

"Now, Hero. We will have to fight our way out. Do not exert yourself too much, you have not done anything in seven years." Sheik commanded, producing two iron daggers out of the folds of the cloth on his forearms and turning towards the entrance.

"Got it." Link said, drawing the Master Sword from his back. "And my name's Link, okay?"

 **Notes:**

Man, this chapter kind of sucked to write. I'm aiming for once a week during the middle of the week, but my computer's been freezing periodically so I missed the day I was aiming for. That also meant this chapter wasn't written in one sitting like most of the other things I've posted here, so it's probably a little weaker, but I tried my best. Enjoy!

I'm going to try to respond to reviews here, too:

Guest: I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully this chapter's to your liking as well. And it's nice knowing that I'm not the only person out there who thinks this way about Sheik, although I understand why the idea that Sheik is a girl is so common. Hopefully this answers your question about Navi, too!


	3. Chapter 3

**-Skirmish-**

Link followed Sheik out into Castle Town, and let out a small gasp. The entire town was cloaked in darkness emanating from the castle in the distance, already giving it a bleak feeling. Most of the houses and shops were in ruins, with holes in the walls, chunks of the roof missing, and some even being on fire.

"This is reality now." Sheik said in a hushed tone, perhaps picking up on Link's shock.

"How do people live here?" Link asked. Sheik hushed him and began to walk faster through the ruins.

"Nobody does, except monsters." Sheik responded, turning a corner. They were at the courtyard near the entrance of town, with the mostly-intact drawbridge on the far side. The fountain in the centre was no longer working, and the courtyard itself was littered with bodies. Link paused, a wave of nausea coming over him at the sight. They weren't skeletons, with most still having all their skin and being dressed in tattered clothes that they must have worn the day they died. The ones closer to him appeared to be covered in stab wounds, and the sight made Link sick.

Sheik paused, and Link nearly walked into him. "What's wrong?"

Sheik sighed, his shoulders shaking. "You will not like what comes next. Draw your sword."

"Why? There's nothing here."

"Hero. Ready your sword." Sheik growled. Link bit back a response when Sheik abruptly started running. Gracefully, he made it to the fountain in the middle, and turned back to look at Link.

And then one of the bodies _moved._

Slowly, menacingly, the army of dead bodies began to pull itself off the stone roads and drag itself towards the Sheikah, who had both his daggers drawn and was standing within the fountain's walls.

"Look out!" Link yelled, rushing to his aid. The bodies - or whatever they were - turned slowly, and Link abruptly stopped. Their faces were clearly still human, but they looked gaunt, the remaining skin stretched tight against their skulls. Some of them were missing teeth or even eyes.

The bodies lurched towards Link, slowly, and Sheik took advantage of the distraction to slice the throat of the one nearest to him before kicking at the one next closest to him, knocking it off balance while the Sheikah attempted to close the distance between the two living fighters. Link went for the one nearest to him, biting back his thoughts that he was killing innocent people, raising his sword above his head and bringing it down into the body's shoulder.

The body - an older man, Link noticed - paused briefly, his right arm hanging uselessly, before staggering on, bringing out his arm to try and loosen Link's grip on the master sword as the Hylian tried to free his sword. Another body, a young woman, approached Link on the left and raised her arm menacingly.

Meanwhile, all Link could see of Sheik was a blur of movement around a group of bodies. The smaller boy was almost dancing around the group, pausing to slash at the bodies or push one away. He wasn't killing them very quickly, but he wasn't getting himself cornered like Link.

Link finally managed to free his sword and slashed laterally at the two trying to kill him. The one closer to him was sliced in half, while the further one simply had a gash on her chest and kept moving towards him. Link started to panic, keeping his sword close to him. Two more bodies broke from the pack fighting Sheik and ambled towards him.

Sheik seemed to be making some headway, as he kicked one body into another, knocking them both over, before stabbing the body on top, holding the dagger in until it stopped moving. The other one was sufficiently trapped, and Sheik turned his attention to the remaining four, his back to Link. Link stepped forwards, slashing diagonally and defeating one of his, but the attack left him open and he had to clumsily step out of the way of the other two bodies. Sheik didn't seem to be slowing down, as he took out one of his own with a dagger to the heart before resuming his focus on the last one, dangerously close to the two Link was fighting. One of the bodies Link was staring down noticed this and turned his attention on Sheik, who was trying to break through the defences of the other one…

"No!" Link yelled, charging towards the body and tackling it out of the way, before plunging his sword through the body's stomach. He stood up, panting, and looked at Sheik, who had manage to land slashes at the wrists of his body and rendered it incapable of attacking. Link closed his eyes. They had done it, but the ordeal was something he was sure he was going to have nightmares about.

Suddenly, Cold hands grasped his shoulders, nails digging in and drawing blood, and pulled him backwards. Link almost fell off his feet, his eyes shot open, and he yelled. He'd forgotten all about the last body, the one he had slashed across the chest. Sheik had finished up with the last body attacking him and turned to Link, practically flinging himself across the space between them and plunging one of his daggers into the last body's forehead. The hands on Link's shoulders twitched, then relaxed, then slid off. Sheik's face was inches from his, as the weight of the body had pulled Link down a bit, and Link could see that Sheik had a light dusting of freckles across his nose, which was slightly crooked, as though someone had broke it.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, catching their breaths, until Sheik pulled the dagger out of the body's forehead and it slumped to the road, lifeless once again. Link stood up straight, and Sheik pulled back, but neither of them sheathed their weapons.

"What were those?" Link asked. He was tired now, wanting to sleep but fearing that if he closed his eyes the faces of the bodies would haunt him.

"They were once citizens of castle town that Ganondorf's army killed, then Ganondorf himself cast a spell on. Every time someone sets foot within this courtyard, they animate themselves and attempt to kill them." Sheik replied. Link remained silent.

"I hope this is the last time I have to come through here." Sheik said, mostly to himself, as he bent down near the nearest body and closed his eyes, paying respect to what had been a group of happy citizens of a castle town, all those years ago.

Slowly, he stood up, and motioned for Link to follow. "Come, hero. There is a safe house not far from here, and there I can teach you how to swordfight."

"Link." The hero said, somewhat forcefully. "And what's wrong with my swordfighting?"

"You fight like a child, attempting to use speed and being hard to hit to your advantage, but you do not move fast enough to do that." Sheik said simply, before stalking out towards the drawbridge.

Link had no choice but to follow, lest he be left behind with a field of corpses and his own mind.

 **Notes:**

I've always thought ReDeads were scary, don't you? A lot of things in this game become scarier the more you think about them, and this is far from the only thing (wait until dead hand shows up...). I'm not particularly good at writing action scenes, so I hope this was alright. I'm once again blaming smash for this taking so long, but I do have every intent to see this through. How else am I going to realize the scenes I wanted to write?

Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

**-Reunion-**

The openness of Hyrule Field was still staggering. Link had grown up in a forest his whole life, and leaving it for the first time, the sheer amount of open space had blown his mind. As a child, it had taken him over a week to get to the castle. With Sheik taking him at a fast pace to who-knows-where, Link had to wonder how long they'd walk for. The Sheikah had been very good about stopping when Link needed to, but Link's stamina was slowly building up again. He could walk for a few hours now without having to stop after a few days on the road, at least.

Sheik had been very quiet about where they were going, giving the excuse of someone possibly overhearing, but with nobody else in sight but the other boy Link was starting to doubt it. After a few more minutes, Sheik stopped to look at him. The sun, which had begun to set not too long ago, blurred his image slightly and Link had to put a hand over his eyes to see properly.

"Are you tired?" Sheik asked. He'd asked this question before, many times. Link had initially said yes each time, but had slowly began to refuse until he absolutely had to take a breath. He hadn't hit that point just yet, but he was starting to waver a little.

"No, I can keep going," he said. "How long until we get to where we're going?"

"Not long," Sheik responded, his silhouette not moving. "Perhaps another hour."

"Another hour…" Link repeated. "Yeah, I can do that."

Sheik remained unmoving for several seconds before turning around again. "Very well."

And so the walking continued. Not long after, the sun set, and Link saw several metallic glints in front of him as Sheik drew his weapons, prompting him to do the same. The two continued to trudge on in silence, with Link's legs growing heavier with every step and Sheik pausing periodically, seeming to take in the surroundings with little effort despite the darkness.

But the danger never came, and it seemed the only way Link could die here would be collapsing and falling onto his sword, which, given how tired he was becoming, was a possibility. He wasn't going to stop, though. The fight with the monsters in Castle Town weighed on his mind, and how he'd barely been able to stop two of them while Sheik had to fight the rest and save him.

If he had been on his own there, he would've died.

If he hadn't killed that second-last one, Sheik may have been hurt.

If he had to be the one to defeat Ganondorf, he needed to be stronger.

"...Hero?" came a voice.

"Link." The hero responded, somewhat forcefully. It was pitch-black now, the only thing Link was able to make out of Sheik was his slight frame several feet away.

"We must keep moving, Hero." The Sheikah said, either not hearing or ignoring Link's comment. "If one stops out here in the night, the Poes will come to take your soul to the afterlife."

"Impa told me that once," Link said, starting to move again. "I thought she was just trying to scare me into staying in Kakariko Village for the night."

Sheik waited for Link to get right next to him before he continued walking, keeping himself slightly turned to the right. He mumbled something, but at a low enough volume that Link couldn't hear it over his own footsteps.

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Hey, Sheik?" Link asked.

"Yes, hero?"

"How much longer until we get to wherever it is we're going?"

Sheik didn't respond, instead picking up the pace just fast enough to not be a comfortable walking pace, forcing Link to speed up or be left behind. After a few minutes of that, a shape appeared in the distance. It appeared to be a house, surrounded by a fence higher than Link was tall. There was a second house off to the side, and that was the extent that Link could make out in the pitch black. Sheik calmly strode up to the gate, inserted one of his daggers into the lock hanging from it, and after a minute the lock dropped off silently, caught in the Sheikah's hand before it could alert the world to their presence. He calmly opened the gate before turning to Link and gesturing for him to come in.

"Aren't we breaking in?" Link whispered. The other boy shook his head, repeating the gesture. Link bit back his next question and followed Sheik in, who quickly closed the gate and secured the lock again. Link looked around again, and with the closer view he noticed a stable on the far side of the field, which was empty at this time of night. There was a Cucco house near the barn, which Link subconsciously took a step away from. And in the house, there was a light on with a figure inside the ground floor window, although he couldn't make out anything else about it.

"Where are we?" Link whispered to Sheik, who had walked up to stand at his right side, daggers now sheathed.

"Lon Lon Ranch." Sheik responded, briefly touching the crossguard of Link's sword to draw his attention to it before walking up to the door of the house.

"Lon Lon Ranch?" Link repeated, letting pleasant memories fill his head as he sheathed his sword and followed Sheik to the door. He had learned to ride a horse here, seven years ago. And he had made his first friend outside of the forest, a girl named Malon who was about his age. He'd spent some time there, helping out with the farm chores, as their hired hand, Ingo, was lazy and often disappeared for hours at a time. Why Talon, Malon's father, never fired him was beyond Link. But then again, Malon seemed to be the only one of the three that did any work when Link was last there...

At this point, Sheik had knocked on the door rhythmically and was waiting to be let in. The seconds slowly ticked by without an answer, with the two standing there in silence. Sheik knocked again, and Link drew his sword and faced away from the house, just to be safe. After about ten more seconds, Sheik sighed and worked on prising the door open, throwing a knowing look at Link as he did so that made the hero elect to stay quiet. After a moment, Sheik stepped into the house and Link followed, sheathing his sword.

The house looked about the same as Link remembered it. The main floor mostly consisted of a kitchen and dining area, with a staircase leading up to the bedrooms off to the left. The kitchen was small, merely consisting of an icebox and a pantry, with a fire pit to cook in. In the centre of the room, there was a table, where a man was hunched over at, snoring. There was a sword on the floor, and a bottle of milk spilt on the table. Sheik sighed.

"Is he alright?" Link asked, keeping his voice low.

"He's just sleeping," Sheik responded, walking towards the man. "Again."

Link nodded, remembering Malon's tales about how lazy her father could be. Sheik bent over, picking up the sword and placing it on the far end of the table. Then, he firmly tapped the man on the shoulder. Surprisingly, the man woke up with a jolt and a yell, before quickly attempting to compose himself.

"I'm awake!" he yelled, prompting Sheik to step back. "Just closed my eyes a minute ago, that's all…"

"Of course, Talon," Sheik said, keeping his voice neutral. "I don't suppose you're awake enough to recognize the person in the doorway?"

Link figured it was a good time as any to step forward into the light. Talon, who was busy rubbing his eyes and asking Sheik questions, abruptly stopped talking as his jaw dropped at the sight of the hero.

"Hello, Talon." Link said.

"Link, my boy…" Talon gasped, standing up to close the distance. Link noticed with some chagrin that he was taller than Talon, as well.

"It's been seven years, Link," Talon said. "But you've finally come back. Malon will be so excited…"

 **Notes:**

oh man, it's been a while...

I guess I'm coming back to this slowly, I truthfully don't enjoy writing very much but I'm taking a college course for it soon, so this seems to be a good way to get some practice. I can't promise regular updates since I try to write a little every day, so the next chapter will come out when it's done?

Enjoy!


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